This invention relates to electrical harnesses and to improved methods of manufacturing electrical harnesses. The invention is herein described as an embodiment intended for use in a motor vehicle but other uses of the invention will be apparent from the description which follows.
It is common practice to manufacture an electrical harness by lacing the wires for the harness around appropriately located pegs on a harness board, applying bundle ties to the wires, removing the laced wires from the harness board, stripping insulation from the ends of the wires, applying terminals to the wire ends and finally, inserting the terminals into connector housings. Alternatively, some harnesses are manufactured by manufacturing the individual leads having terminals on their ends in a lead making machine, storing the leads in bins, selecting one or more leads from each bin for the harness, and assemblying the harness from the individual leads. Both methods are relatively time consuming and are subject to errors on the part of the technician which must later be corrected. Furthermore, these harnesses making methods do not discourage the use of an unnecessarily high number of different types of connectors and terminals in the harness. It is not uncommon for a harness of the type used in an automobile or an electrical appliance to have several different styles or types of terminals and connectors on the harness when, in fact, one or two standard types could be used. This lack of standardization probably is a result of the fact that the apparatus on which the harness is used was designed by different groups of designers and each group of designers selected the terminals for the components of the apparatus for which the group has responsibility. Finally, the assembly process in which harnesses are assembled to the apparatus is somewhat unsatisfactory in that after the cables of the harness have been secured in place in the apparatus, the different types of connectors on the harness must be mated or coupled with complementary connectors extending from the components on the apparatus and the lack of standardization tends to complicate this process and lengthen the time required for carrying it out.
In accordance with the principles of the instant invention, the wires of the harness are simply bundled together, or they are provided as a flat cable and at every location at which an electrical connection is to be made to a wire in the harness, that wire is electrically exposed (e.g. the insulation is stripped from the wire). A standard connecting device is then clamped onto the wire, this connecting device having an insulating body member and a contact arm which engages the electrically exposed wire. The body also has an opening therein for an electrical plug which, when inserted, electrically contacts or engages the contact arm. The plug in turn is secured to a wire which extends from an electrical switch or load.
It is accordingly an object of the invention to provide an improved method of manufacturing electrical harnesses. A further object is to provide an improved connecting device intended for use on electrical harnesses. A further object is to provide a connecting device which can be used to make all, or virtually all, of the connections required in the harness to electrical loads or electrical switches. A further object is to provide a connecting device which can be readily inspected after application to a harness so that a determination can be made of the efficiency of the connection.